No Yellow Ribbons Here (BARF Alert!)

Daily Collegian (UMass) ^ | 2/24/05 | Thomas Naughton

[TFFKAMM]

Guilt can only weigh on a person's mind for so long before they crave the act of purgation; to get the weighty feelings of shame and responsibility out of the mind - or at least the guilty parties attempt to find some kind of peace if they cannot rid themselves of a screaming conscience that implicates and indicts its possessor.

That said, perhaps some readers will understand why my friends and I rip yellow ribbon "support the troops" magnets off of cars or wherever people have affixed them. By ripping off these ribbons, we find a way to deal with our guilt, as though with each ribbon swiped we take back a life that was taken by this senseless war started by our senseless president and those who support him.

I will never say, "support the troops." I don't believe in the validity of that statement. People say, "I don't support the war, I support the troops" as though you can actually separate the two. You cannot; the troops are a part of the war, they have become the war and there is no valid dissection of the two. Other people shout with glaring eyes that we should give up our politics, give up our political affiliations in favor of "just supporting the troops." I wish everything were that easy.

What they really mean is that we should just give up our will, give up our identities, give up our voices to those in power. Perhaps that's just the way people aligned with the right wing choose to get rid of their guilt: blindness and ignorance.

I listen to talk radio very often. It's important to know who your enemies are. The pundits on the radio are the pinnacles of guiltless, shameless wonders, and I am jealous. It must feel good to believe without question, to benefit from the blind belief of young men and women who chose to join the armed forces, to sit in a radio studio in New York and admonish the public to give in like the troops, to just follow orders, to live as just a number that will soon be etched into a gravestone that no one will ever see.

I look into the cars of people with "support the troops" ribbons as I speed past, trying to find some trace of recognition on their face, recognition of their guilt and the fact that they have given up. I usually see nothing; just a mouth moving robotically, singing the pop hits of today or the contemporary country wine of fake cowboys who share a lot with George Bush: no shame.

We say, "support the troops" so that we won't feel guilty about saying "no" to war. We reason that if we say that we support the troops, somehow we aren't monsters for not saying a word when the death tolls of U.S. soldiers climbed above 1,000. Those ribbons are yellow for a reason, they are not the mark of armed forces support, they are the mark of cowards.

Pundits on the radio advise their cowardly listeners to approach men and women in army uniforms and say "thank you." I cannot do that. Every time I pass a person in uniform I look long and hard at them and all I can think inside to say is "I'm so sorry." I want to apologize to them, to their families and to their friends. I feel sorry that we, the people, couldn't control our own government at the outset of this conflict when most of us knew deep inside that it was a mistake.

Where are we now? Are we in a better place? Is the world safer for democracy? No, it is not safer and we are not in a better place. In this war that we are fighting to somehow avenge the deaths of the Sept. 11 tragedy, we have amassed a field of body bags, the number of which almost matches the number killed in the terrorist attacks four years ago. Now, we stare at yet another request for barrels of money for this war by President Bush, while people in our own country search fruitlessly for jobs to feed their starving families, while every public school gets left behind, while our elderly are ensured an uncertain future of unpaid medical bills.

I guess we shouldn't think about those things though, right? We should just buy a yellow magnet and slap it on the butt of our car so we can sleep at night and just let our government do whatever they want. That's supporting the troops, right?

Two years ago my friend Eric called me out of the blue after almost five years of silence between us. We were in a band together when we were teenagers and he had joined the army around the time I was graduating from high school. He had to join the army; he had a son to provide for in the grand tradition of many young members of the armed forces. He called me to tell me that he was going back to Iraq, against his will. He was so sad and angry and scared. He didn't say it, but I know he was calling to tell me that he might die. I didn't say it to him then, but I felt such overwhelming guilt that I couldn't do anything to keep him from going back.

I haven't heard from him since. I don't know if he's dead, and my guilt is alive and well. I hope that all of our family members in harm's way return alive. Until then, I can really honor their sacrifice by demanding that it finally comes to an end.

[ArGee]

Isn't there a thread on FR about college not being worth the money. I think this twit proved that for U Mass.

That said, perhaps some readers will understand why my friends and I rip yellow ribbon "support the troops" magnets off of cars or wherever people have affixed them. By ripping off these ribbons, we find a way to deal with our guilt, as though with each ribbon swiped we take back a life that was taken by this senseless war started by our senseless president and those who support him.

OK, so to assuage your guilt you commit theft? Smart plan.

Shalom.

[King Prout]

*bows*
why, thank you.

[King Prout]

PLUS: it is a reminder of the impotence of Jimmuh Cahtah's US of the late '70's - an unpleasant period best remembered as a warning to the present.

[TChris]

...perhaps some readers will understand why my friends and I rip yellow ribbon "support the troops" magnets off of cars or wherever people have affixed them

Perhaps some juvenile delinquent ingrate will understand when the hard-working, patriotic owner of that car gives you a nosebleed for you to ponder.

[Swiss]

I am not sure that the origial ideal for a Yellow Ribbon started then or maybe it is a throwback to the US Horse Calvary and the song "She wore a Yellow Ribbon"

[stands2reason]

Get a gun-rights sticker. Freepers with NRA stickers don't seem to have the same problem.

[506trooper]

Makes me wish I lived in Mass so I could park close to where this guys lives.

I have RWB and Yellow ribbons on my scooters and on both cars...haven't been touched.

Course I know no one would ever think about touching the scoots, at least no one sane; it couldn't possibly be the NRA stickers in the car windows that might be like a neon "No Tresspassing" sign could it?

[sean327]

Here is my e-mail to this little freak.

Mr. Naughton,

I just finished reading your article "No Yellow Ribbons Here", and let me be the first to tell you what a flaming piece of garbage it was. Your assertion that most of us in the Armed Forces joined for no other reason than economic necessity is completely wrong. I invite you to come down to sunny Yuma Arizona and spend a day with the Marines in my platoon. I guarantee it will open your eyes. The 22 Marines in my platoon come from all over this great country. 6 of us are Hispanic (2 from California, 1 from Arizona, 2 from Texas, and myself from New Mexico) 1 is Navajo from New Mexico, 2 are Black, both from New York, 1 Filipino from Oregon, and the rest are white. We all come from different economic backgrounds, we are evenly divided between rural and urban. Once you talk to these guys you will find they became Marines for all of the same reasons. They wanted a challenge, to belong to something bigger than themselves, and most of us (95%) because we love this country and wanted to give something back to it.

Your article does a great disservice to these young men, these are guys who would not hesitate to give you their last dime if you needed more than they did. These kids sacrifice daily while their contemporaries are out partying and shuffling along through life. They spend long days, weeks, months, and sometimes up to a year away from their families, and they do it with a smile on their faces and rarely complain. You want to know the funny part about all of this, they really don't give a rat's ass what some snot nosed college kid, who has no clue about the world thinks about them. While you sit around stealing someone's right of expression, they are putting their asses on the line so you can verbally bash them. They are very the reason you have the right to say what ever the hell you want without someone knocking on your door at 2am to haul your sniveling ass away. These are the finest people I have ever had the privilege to know. They have more class in their little toe than your sticker stealing ass has in your entire body.

So the next time you snatch someone's yellow ribbon sticker, think about my Marines and remember while you loath them they are protecting your cowardly little ass everyday. It takes allot more guts to do what these Marines do every day than it does to steal some old lady's sticker while no one is looking.

The invitation stands, maybe you can learn something from these guys, I'm sure you can.


GySgt Sean Castillo
USMC

[Jonah Hex]

This author is in dire need of a "valid dissection".

[nutmeg]

Barf alert ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[ApplegateRanch]

Try instead, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

Around her neck
she wore a yellow ribbon.
She wore it in December
and in the month of May.
And if you asked her,
"Why the decoration?"
She said 'twas for her lover
who was far, far away.

Far away, far away;
She said 'twas for her lover
who was far, far away.

Above a grave
she scattered yellow flowers.
She brought them in December
and in the month of May.
And if you asked her
why she brought them thither,
She said 'twas for her soldier
who was far, far away.

Far away, far away;
She brought them for her soldier
who was far, far away

See also:

1949 John Wayne movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
...US Calvary neck-kerchief yellow.

Been a long time; guess I'll have go rent it, and watch it again.

[Steel Wolf]

The invitation stands, maybe you can learn something from these guys, I'm sure you can.

You're the man. Ironically, he's too brainwashed into thinking that you're brainwashed to take you up on it. I'd go to his college for a month and listen to every bit of rant that his friends and teachers could come up with, if he'd take you up on your offer.

[76834]

Very nice ApplegateRanch, I appreciate that.

Thanks.

[Uncle Fud]

it is a reminder of the impotence of Jimmuh Cahtah's US

Good catch -I'd surpressed that memory

[506trooper]

Serious rant there, Gunny.

Good job.

[TFFKAMM]

Awesome rant!

Best wishes for your speedy recovery, thanks for serving our country, and G-dspeed to you when you are deployed.

[Long Cut]

Glad you liked it. Here's another you might like.

[Long Cut]

This one I consider my best.

[Doctor Raoul]

For all the "confession is good for the soul" crap he spouts in the opening paragraph, he has not said he'll stop and he's not going to do anything to make ammends to those he harmed.

In fact, from the tone and tense of the rest of the article, you can only conclued that he'll continue to be a bastard.

[Long Cut]

He's BS'ing. This toad doesn't have anywhere near the sack to do what he claims to be doing. Even that juvenile crap takes a sort of risk-taking gut that the effete pig lacks.